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using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
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Message: 5388
Author: Daniel
Date: 02/01/2006
Subject: Daniel's replies and comments adressed to many people
Following is a collection of comments, replies and questions
addressed to various Club members, usually (but not necessarily) as
a reaction to things posted in recent weeks. Please read on as there
may be something concerning you!
(this is just a ploy to make you read my long messages :-) )
1. To Andrew
a)
Daniel wrote:
> Well, my humble suggestion would be: give a little bit moreAndrew wrote:
> priority to JSW over tennis :-) . I wouldn't dare advise you to
> give up tennis altogether (I have no right to interfere with your
> life /that much/, have I? :-) ), but why not relax tennis a bit,
> and do more MM/JSW instead? :-)
> I had, in fact, come to this conclusion before you suggested it. IWell, this is WONDERFUL news for anyone interested in the subject!
> never know how much time I'll have for MM/JSW in the rest of my
> life, so I intend to make the most of it while I can.
:-) I am not sure what your contribution to the tennis scene is, but
I can say for certain that the MM/JSW community /needs/ you in order
to survive and flourish! :-)
Andrew wrote:
> My passion for MM/JSW has really reignited during tennis's off-Wonderful!!! Let's keep the flame burning bright! :-)
> season, as has the activity in this Group. I have no desire to put
> MM/JSW back on the backburner when the 2006 tennis-season starts.
b) Storage space problem
Andrew wrote:
> Seeing as I just mentioned the Files section, 20MB should be moreIf I might express my personal opinion, I think it would be more
> than enough for a lifetime of Spectrum MM/JSW games. It's the PC ]
> remakes that are claiming the lion's share of the 88% that we've
> currently used up.
> As the Owner of this Group, my plan is to wait until there's no
> more space to upload any more Spectrum games, and then banish all
> non-Spectrum games from this Group (with due notice, of course - I
> wouldn't delete the files suddenly with no warning). I may create
> another Yahoo! Group for non-Spectrum MM/JSW games, in the case
> that this change of policy would leave any games unhosted.
> Or then again, I may decide to restrict the Files section to beta-
> versions, deleting gamma-released games once they're hosted
> elsewhere. Yes, I think this will be my first step once the Files
> section is too full to admit one more Spectrum game.
fair to the Club members to remove the PC remakes, which if I
understand the situation correctly are really beyond the scope of
this Group. I think it would be preferable to have gamma releases of
Spectrum MM/JSW games available in the Files section even if they
are also hosted somewhere else than to have them banished from the
Files section for the sake of the PC and other non-Spectrum games.
So, personally, I would very much opt for your first solution.
c) Room number patch proposal
Andrew wrote:
> For large JSW games, it's rather time-consuming to look for a room-[proposal explained with a diagram]
> title in a room-list ordered by room-number. It would be nice if
> JSW could be patched to display the current room-number [PEEK
> 33824] in the bottom third of the screen, e.g.
Personally, I am not particularly in favour of this idea, because I
believe in the separation of the creator's side and the user's side
of JSW games. In other words, while technical room numbers are
important for designers, I don't think they should have any
importance for players, the more so that they may be haphazard -
e.g. you start in room #67 it's really room #1 for you, but it's
#67 from the technical point of view, then you move to room #2 for
you, which is #17 technically, then to "your" room #3 which is #86
technically, etc. it's confusing and doesn't have any meaning.
What I would be more interested in would be a patch to substitute
the clock (which is useless anyway and which Leslie Marwick already
eliminated in "Spaceman Willy" back in 1985!) with a counter of
rooms visited so far (possibly against the total number of rooms)
like there was in JSWII.
Of the proposed patches you want to write, Andrew, personally I look
forward very much to: vertical conveyors, vertical and horizontal
lifts, turning in mid-jump/fall, an arbitrary POKE for each room and
extra-life colour-cycling when you collect the last item.
It would also be great if you made the "systematic method for
applying them" easy enough to use by users without any technical
skills :-) .
d) Glossary of MM/JSW terms
Andrew wrote:
> In fact I intend to add a MM/JSW glossary to my websiteSendy wrote:
> in the near future.
> I propose invisible conveyors which safe you from unseen danger beI would agree with Sendy's proposal, which should also embrace
> referred to as 'the Hand of God effect'.
invisible ropes, teleporters, and other such things.
I absolutely think that creating a MM/JSW glossary is a great and
very needed idea, Andrew! A structured, "officialised" terminology
shared by all members of MM/JSW community would certainly raise the
profile of MM/JSW and contribute to its becoming a truly academic or
scientific discipline :-) .
Andrew wrote:
> Isn't it annoying that, with the MM/JSW community having adoptedWhat about using "oxygen" for MM? It's the most logical word for me,
> the Greek four-element terminology, "air" now has two completely
> different meanings in MM and JSW64?
because it's the lack of oxygen which kills you in any given cavern.
It would also be a good idea to have a set of JSW rules (like the
ones you quoted when playtesting "Mind Control" "A JSW player
should be able to fall off the bottom of the screen from a height of
four (or fewer) character-rows without expecting an infinite-death
scenario", etc.), generally accepted by members of the MM/JSW
community, which would serve both as a guide in designing and as a
parameter in the evaluation of the games.
e) Colliding guardians
Andrew wrote:
> In my view, it's fair to impose a time-limit on a room by having aI don't particularly like it - it contradicts my notion of a "JSW
> guardian collide with another guardian, as long as it doesn't make
> the room unpassable, and it's possible to avoid sacrificing a life
> to collect the items. Theoretically, the player should be able to
> foresee the collision after observing the two boundaries of each
> guardian involved.
universe" where you can roam around leisurely and where you feel at
home you don't feel at home in a place from which you have to get
out on time or die! However, I agree that it is justified if it
serves the purpose of imposing a time-limit.
Having said that, I am strongly against it if it doesn't serve any
purpose, and I consider it a bug. Such is the case of the
room "Western Courtyard" (09) in Adban De Corcy's otherwise
excellent game "A Bulgarian Requiem" the red vertical guardian and
the cyan horizontal guardian collide after a while, but after such a
long time that it doesn't make the room difficult to pass and an
efficient player may not even realise it will happen.
I wish Adban De Corcy would release a fixed version, though. What's
happened to him, by the way?
f) Weird room names
Daniel wrote (regarding "The Devil's Workshop" in "JSW: Mind
Control"):
> The name of the room was inspired by "Satan's Shed" (023) from "WeAndrew wrote:
> Pretty" - Andrew, please forgive not keeping the original spelling
> of your room's name! - but I always pronounce it this way in my
> thoughts :-) .
> You mean in your thoughts you /spell/ it as "Satan's Shed" ratherWell, when I "think aloud" (inside my brain), I pronounce (hear?)
> than "S A T AN S S H ED"?
the name, which is spelled on paper: "S A T AN S S H
ED" as I would pronounce (hear) the name spelled on paper: "Satan's
Shed". So then if you asked me to write the name down, I would
easily be able to spell it: "Satan's Shed", but it would be very
difficult for me to spell it as it is spelled in your game
(preserving all the spaces, etc.).
I guess it's a case of giving priority to the /perceived/ meaning of
the words over their original spelling.
Andrew wrote:
> I wonder how in your thoughts you spell (and pronounce)The general rule is that I identify any name which sounds
> "THENEARLYINGONESERRED", "KHEN HAUS KA RI CZUCHS ENN EGG"
> and "KIANO TF OR ALL THEE GGSIN SLOVA"...
intelligible to me (or at least parts of it), then "hear it", and
then if you asked me to put it down on paper, I would spell it
the "normal" way. The problem starts when there are unintelligible
or ambivalent names.
Of the three you mentioned, the second one would be the easiest:
"Hen house. Kari, choose an egg!"
The first one might be:
"The near-lying ones are red"
and the third one:
"Not for all the eggs in Slovakia!" (after some intense thinking,
though!)
:-) :-) :-)
2. To Igor
a)
I'm not sure if anyone has answered your question about Skylab (what
it was). Skylab was America's first experimental space station,
designed for long duration mission. See for example:
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/skylab/skylab.htm
They say there:
"The empty Skylab spacecraft returned to Earth July 11, 1979
scattering debris over the Indian Ocean and the sparsely settled
region of Western Australia."
Some of the debris must have fallen close to the Surbiton area,
because you see it (in fact: try to avoid it) in "Manic Miner"! :-)
b)
Andrew wrote:
> Which reminds me: I know for a fact that the latest gamma-releaseThis is an important question for me in view of my plans to help
> of ZX Heroes is *NOT* Igor's latest alpha-revision! When are we
> going to see the long-awaited rerelease?
with the update of JSW/MM games in .tzx format at the TZX Vault and
the WoS. So what about it?
c)
I look forward to "Ultimate Manic Miner"! The way you described it,
it sounds like it is going to be a product which will introduce
totally new quality into MM/JSW gaming! :-)
3. To DrUnKeN mAsTeR!!!:
a)
John mentioned a problem with JSW64 and said:
> "Maria On Tour" has this defect in its memory map, but the actualYou said, concerning "Maria on Tour":
> tables appear to be undamaged so the game plays as normal; it's
> just something to be careful of if you load it into JSWED".
> I may fix the easy to get item in the kitchen area when I haveTaking the above into account, would you consider preparing
> time.
a /final/ version of "Maria on Tour" with the item fixed and perhaps
also the memory map fixed? I am asking because I plan to prepare
the .zip file with all the games / latest revisions missing from the
TZX Vault and WoS, as mentioned a few weeks ago, and when I get down
to it, it would be great if I could send them a "very" final version
of "Maria on Tour" :-) .
You said, responding to my question whether you consider the current
release of "Bizarre" to be the absolutely final version:
> Yup I have no desire what so-ever to add to it.If games are to be sent to the TZX wizards to be converted to
the "perfect" format and thus preserved for posterity, perhaps you
could consider releasing a bugfix of "Bizarre" with the problem of
having to lose a life in order to collect the bottom-right item
in "Romantic Hallucinations" fixed? I am asking because I think it
is inelegant to have a game which is not possible to (theoretically)
complete without losing any lives (unless it is the author's
explicit desire that it should be so, for some reason).
This bugfix wouldn't take you more than three minutes to prepare,
certainly :-) .
b)
In the end I didn't include your quote in "JSW:Mind Control"'s text
file, because of the factual problems and because I wasn't convinced
I could rephrase it myself well enough to preserve your vivid style
(in fact I knew I wasn't able to do it). But since I love your
spontaneous way of saying things, I will be watching your posts
carefully and I am sure there will be things there I will want to
quote in the future :-). Also, if you still feel like rephrasing
that quotation, please do and let me know "the final version"! I
will certainly find ways to make use of it (my future website, my
future games, etc.).
c)
I am sorry about your personal and family problems :-( . I hope your
girlfriend (still the American one? :-) ) gets better soon, and I
look forward to the SE of "DrUnKeN mAsTeR!!!" :-)
d)
Thank you for your kind words about the final version of Sendy's and
mine "JSW: Mind Control" :-) . As you will have noticed, to honour
your determination to play games honestly as "The Games Guru", I
increased the number of lives in the final version of the game to
twelve :-) .
4. To John:
After you mentioned the problem with the memory map in JSW64, Andrew
wrote:
> At the risk of using up the last digit before 2.3.0, could we haveI assume Andrew was referring to "JSW64", "JSW64:Manic Miner"
> this advice in the JSWED manual please? And/or new revisions of
> said three games?
and "JSW64:Dragon". What about the new revisions? Also, if you
decide to do them, could you perhaps post their "ready" versions
(not requiring to go through the build-up process) in the Files
section, even if only for a limited (very short) time? (I mean
the "ready" versions of all variants). This would be very useful,
and I don't think any copyright owners would be after you
immediately because of this.
Andrew wrote:
> On my Merged List of MM/JSW Games I have now played entriesIs "Jet Set Willy 128k" actually possible to play as a single game
> 1 to 17, with the exceptions of 10 (Spaceman Willy), 13 (Dr. Jet
> Set Willy) and 14 (Jet Set Willy 128k).
without using Writetyper to get from one part of the game to the
other? (I played it, but I can't remember right now). If not, would
you consider, John, preparing a new version (0.05), which would be
completable and which would be based on Hacklevel 9 (the current
highest revision is only Hacklevel 7, as far as I can tell). It
wouldn't be that much work, I imagine, and it would be a nice touch
for the sake of completeness :-) .
5. To John or Anyone-Else-Who-Knows:
Extra rooms in other versions of JSW
Thanks a lot, John, for transferring the two extra rooms found in in
the ST version of JSW to the Spectrum format :-) . I actually plan
to include them in the Special Edition of "JSW: The 2005 Megamix"
when I prepare it.
I know there are extra rooms and a lot of changes in the BBC
version. Paul Equinox Collins presents them (with screenshots) at
http://cl4.org/comp/jsw2bbc/ and J.G.Harston hosts the BBC files at
http://www.mdfsnet.f9.co.uk/Software/JSW/BBC/ ; another pertinent
link is: http://www.bbcmicrogames.com/bestrest.html .
Would there be any way of transferring the BBC version to the
Spectrum format just like you did with the ST rooms, John? It would
be great to be able to include them in "JSW: The Megamix SE" or
other games :-)
[sorry if this question reveals my total lack of technical
knowledge, but the concept is very appealing so I thought I'd ask]
6. To Erix1:
a)
Hi Erix1, it's nice to see you are still interested in the subject
of JSW and MM :-) . If you read these words, could you perhaps post
an answer to the questions regarding your program which serves to
edit "Erix1-mode" games? (see messages # 5015, 5016 and 5029). Also,
if your are willing to make this program available to various
authors, could you perhaps upload it to the Files section?
b)
Erix1, could you please help Sendy with the loading program
for "JSW: Role Reversal"? She mentions the fact that you have "drawn
a charming title screen" for that game and were going "to write a
special loading routine" for her, which would let the player "choose
an 'alternate' version set either in Winter or at night-time";
however, then you "disappeared" and the job wasn't done (message #
4936). The loading program is apparently THE ONLY thing that is
holding back the final release of "JSW:RR", so you would make a
great favour to all of the JSW/MM community if you helped Sendy out
with it :-) .
7. To Soa1000:
I think I never thanked you "publicly" for sending me your wonderful
archive of the Club messages. Thanks A LOT! I will start using it
some time this year, hopefully, when I get down to preparing the
Chronology of JSW/MM-for-the-Spectrum development history :-) .
8. To Ewgf3:
I have realised only recently that you are Carl Murray :-) . I want
to thank you for something you did years ago :-) for sending a
snapshot of a beta version of Paul Equinox Collins's
unfinished "JSW '96 Remix" to Andrew Broad. As you probably know if
you follow the developments in JSW/MM world, I have expanded Paul's
game and used it as a starting point for a JSW128 game which was
released last year and is called "JSW: The 2005 Megamix". Actually,
I have decided to prepare a SE of it some time in the future, so the
story of the product which you helped to save will continue :-) .
9. To other authors and Club members
- Herve, I look forward to "Willy in Transatlantic Cruise"! The
screenshots you have uploaded look truly magnificent! :-)
- Sendy, I am sorry about your problems. If 7 backup files won't
work and they worked before ("The Truly Unlucky Seven"? :-) ), I
would suspect there is something wrong with the program, not with
the files. Anyway, I look forward very much to all of your upcoming
releases! I have started playtesting "Manic Person" and I passed the
first two rooms in both versions - very nice rooms, they are :-) .
- Dick Daggers, how is "Lovecraftian Willy" progressing?
- Sparkstercito, how is "Manic Miner: SPARKS.Russell´s Nightmare"
progressing? When can we expect a demo?
- jet_visy, how are "Alternative Polls" and your other projects
progressing?
Greetings and best wishes for the New Year to everyone else, too!
Daniel
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